Michigan voted yesterday to allow scientists to use embryos left over from fertility treatments to create new embryonic stem cell lines.1 Previously, the law required the left-over embryos to be destroyed.
After last night’s election, de-regulation of stem cell research seems appropriate. Although the economy is in a bad state at the moment, I think it’s very likely that President-Elect Obama will overturn Bush’s decision to compel NIH to hold back funding for stem cell research.2
The Detroit News points out that the wording of the constitutional amendment leads to questions of whether private institutions are given too much freedom to create their own guidelines and regulations. I have to disagree somewhat though, as the amendment itself is practically begging federal law to come in and apply those regulations.3 It can hardly be seriously argued that the federal government is not in a better position to explore the ethical concerns of stem cell research than the government of Michigan.
Only time will tell how this all plays out, but I’m keeping an eye on Obama and stem cell research.
- http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081105/OPINION01/811050432 [↩]
- See http://obama.senate.gov/press/070411-obama_renews_su/ [↩]
- See http://inkslwc.wordpress.com/2008/09/18/michigan-ballot-for-2008-proposal-2-stem-cell-research/ for a review of Prop 2 and the new amendment. [↩]
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